Bernie Sanders

The president of a local Bernie Sanders club was asked to speak at a Clinton rally in Iowa. Speak, he did — urging the crowd not to vote for Hillary. Hillary’s “muscle” ushered the man off the stage. It was too late, however, to prevent him from making his #NeverHillary” statement and too late to prevent him from becoming, one hopes, an internet sensation. It must be exceedingly difficult for »

Harry Enten at FiveThrityEight reports that, according to poll data, Hillary Clinton has the support of only two-thirds of Bernie Sanders voters in a race that provides more than two options. In such a race, Clinton wins 69 percent of Sanders supporters in CNN’s latest poll and 65 percent in Marist’s ( YouGov has Clinton doing much worse with the Sanders crowd, but this looks like an outlier). Clinton did »

Bernie Sanders made the socialist case for Hillary Clinton tonight. It’s a strong case that should persuade his rational supporters. Fortunately, for Donald Trump, it may well be that many Sanders supporters are irrational. Sanders’ address was preceded by a speech by Elizabeth Warren and an introduction by Keith Ellison. Before that, Michelle Obama spoke. I didn’t hear her speech, but assume she was good. She always is. Warren’s speech »

It’s no secret that the Washington Post wants Bernie Sanders to give up his presidential run so that life will become easier for the Post’s candidate, Hillary Clinton. But this article by John Wagner attacking Sanders for inflicting on taxpayers the cost of his Secret Service detail carries the joke too far. Wagner reports: Although Hillary Clinton has clinched the party’s nomination, Sanders retains one of the trappings of a »

Bernie Sanders is a Jew, so to call him an anti-Semite is counterintuitive. But the principal form of anti-Semitism in our era is an obsession with, and hypocritical focus on, alleged misdeeds of Israel. Hundreds of thousands killed in Syria? Who cares? Human shields died in Gaza! You know the drill. Alan Dershowitz worries that Sanders’ anti-Israel fixation will drag down the Democratic Party. That isn’t my concern, but Dershowitz »

Turns out a lot of Sanders supporters really need a lot of free stuff. Kudos to the Los Angeles Times for producing this chart, which shows that over a quarter of Sanders donors are not working: Meanwhile, MSNBC is running the following ad starting tomorrow on conservative websites: Sorry, but that lineup is one-for-six on having “conservatives” that most conservatives care about, if in fact they don’t deserve exile (that »

Trump certainly keeps things interesting, doesn’t he? Paul reviewed the reasons for and against a Trump debate, concluding it’s a bad idea. That just made me think that Trump was more likely to do it, and who knows—he may well still change his mind. But what is Trump possibly thinking in attacking the judge in his Trump University civil case? (It’s also less than shrewd, even for Trump, to refer »

There’s talk of a debate between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. It would occur before the California primary. Sanders says he’s up for it. Trump said so too, but now it seems he may have been joking. For Sanders, a successful debate against Trump could propel him to victory in California, something he dearly would love to achieve. However, it wouldn’t propel him to the nomination. Hillary Clinton has that »

“Bernie Sanders’ goal is to transform the Democratic Party, which is already a European style social-democratic party, into a full-fledged vehicle for socialism.” So says Ron Radosh, and I agree. By running so well against Hillary Clinton, Sanders has made significant progress towards accomplishing this goal. As Radosh explains, “worried about keeping the support of Bernie’s people after her nomination is wrapped up, Clinton is being forced to tilt further »

Saturday Night Live has done it again, with a fresh Hillary-Bernie sketch last night that rubs raw all of the jangling nerves of the Democratic Party contest. It’s another amazing indicator of how the Democratic race is suddenly more interesting than the Republican race. (Either that, or Trump is hard to satirize because the real thing is so entertaining.) »

A few days ago I wrote: Once Clinton becomes the nominee, it’s likely that Democrats and left-leaning independents will coalesce around her candidacy. Probably not to the same extent that her supporters coalesced around Obama in 2008, but to a considerable degree. In March, when Clinton was far ahead of Trump in the polls, I was even more convinced of her ability to win the support of Sanders voters. But »

We have chronicled the catastrophic decline of Venezuela’s economy under socialists Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. The situation has gotten so bad that even the New York Times has taken note: “Dying Infants and No Medicine: Inside Venezuela’s Failing Hospitals.” By morning, three newborns were already dead. The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, »

It’s amusing to watch Hillary Clinton, whose nomination for president is assured, struggle to eke out occasional victory in Democratic primaries. Tonight, Clinton appears to have eked one out in Kentucky. With nearly all of the votes counted, she leads Bernie Sanders by fewer than 2,000 (out of more than 420,000 cast). Oregon also held its primary today. Sanders will almost surely win this one. He’s up 53-47 with more »

I suppose I could file this and the previous item under our “Civil War on the Left” series. It’s not just the Washington Post; it’s also The New Republic (which I didn’t know still existed) attacking Bernie for his anti-nuclear power stance: There’s one issue on which Sanders has been hyperconsistently wrong. One yuuuuge-ly important, planet-saving, tiny little thing. It’s his irrational, evidence-free opposition to nuclear energy. Sanders—along with much »

The Washington Post editorial page yesterday took after Bernie Sanders for his childish views on energy, noting that if he had his way it would set back the cause of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Worth a sampling: CAN THE country do without nuclear power and natural gas? Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thinks so. But his position would set back the fight against global warming. . . he had already promised to »

I skipped the latest Democratic debate in New York last Thursday, partly because I knew I could count on Saturday Night Live to provide a relevant highlight reel/analysis in one place. Here it is, from last night: »

Everyone knows the old saying, “If you’re so smart, how come you’re not rich?” Everyone except liberals, that is. One of the things I love about liberals is how much smarter they are than everyone in the business world. Amory Lovins has been telling us for nearly 40 years now about how his “soft energy” paths are so much superior—and cheaper!—than hydrocarbon or nuclear energy. Every day I expect to »